Many are watching to see whether new U.S. President Barack Obama can keep his campaign promise to halve poverty in the next decade. He faces many challenges: the country is in the middle of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, and the ranks of the poor in America are expected to swell this year by 10 million people.

President Obama has been surrounded by advisers during his transition to the White House. One of them is Jim Wallis, a liberal evangelical activist and founder of the Christian social justice organization Sojourners. Host Peggy Wehmeyer spoke with him the day after the inauguration of the new president.

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